Conveyor belts and conveyor systems are well known systems used for the transport of a variety of materials and products. Conveyor belts are designed and used in heavy materials transport applications such as coal mining, ore mining, cement manufacturing operations, and the like. In many such applications, conveyor belts are located in underground mines where access to long stretches of belt and conveyor components is severely limited. As can be appreciated, unexpected failures in conveyor belts in these limited access areas can be dangerous and can also cause substantial production delays.
As a result, methods and systems have been developed to monitor the condition of conveyor belts in operation to predict when failures may occur. If predictions are accurate, the conveyor system can be stopped and the belt repaired at a predetermined or more easily accessible location within the mine or above the ground surface in the case of underground conveyors. While current systems offer some degree of automated monitoring, there is still a need for a fully automated belt monitoring system that is capable of analyzing a variety of sensor data indicative of belt condition, and of triggering alarms to alert a user of the belt condition. There is also a need for an automated system that can sense a dangerous or imminent failure condition and can automatically stop the conveyor so that catastrophic system failure does not occur. Such a system should be sufficiently sensitive so that it successfully detects actual problem conditions, but should also be sufficiently discriminating that it avoids alarming or tripping where such responses are not warranted. Such a system should also meet or exceed applicable industry standards and regulations as well.